


Love Cooking for dummies

by lime_kitty



Series: Christmas Collection [1]
Category: Lego Ninjago, The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Genre: Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Cooking Lessons, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lime_kitty/pseuds/lime_kitty
Summary: Zane catches Cole in the kitchen in the middle of the night, all alone and with flour splotches all over him.What could his friend possibly be doing there at that those ungodly hours?
Relationships: Cole/Zane (Ninjago)
Series: Christmas Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056407
Comments: 2
Kudos: 64





	Love Cooking for dummies

**Author's Note:**

> First Christmassy fic!  
> I have a couple more in the making, and I'd like to also make a smutty one but I'm not sure yet.  
> Anyway, enjoy!

Zane's eyes opened all of a sudden. The white ninja was only mildly shocked upon recognizing his room all around him, bathed in the mysterious darkness of the night. Why was he seeing all of that though? He should be sleeping…

The nindroid closed his eyelids and took a deep breath. The characteristic silence of these hours giving him so much happiness and peace of mind, but… there was something wrong.

His eyes opened once again. He couldn't fall back asleep for some reason.

He decided to run a quick auto-scan over his mechanism. A few minutes later, he detected a malfunction on his internal clock. One of the pieces of his robotic "organs" must have moved during the last battle the ninja team underwent, which was now causing him a very annoying and odd case of insomnia.

Zane sighed. While he could try and inspect himself on the mirror, he preferred to let Jay perform a diagnostic from outside and "operate" him accordingly. Sadly, it was the middle of the night. Zane didn't have the heart to go to Jay's room and wake the boy up. He would have to wait until morning.

However, Zane despised wasting time like that, just lying on the bed, staring at a black ceiling while waiting for the sun to shine through the blinds. Uhm, at least now he knew a thing more about humans who suffered from such sleeping disorders.

Eventually, Zane rose up from his bed. He couldn't bear waiting for hours doing anything.

He would have used this extra time he'd just been given on training and perfecting his abilities, but he feared that might cause too much racket, and he didn't wish to wake up anyone else in the monastery. In the end, he settled for walking around the house. Maybe he could find things that needed to be fixed or cleaned some more —Lloyd definitely could use a few lessons about how to sweep the floor with more efficiency.

As Zane moved in silence around the halls, his robotic hearing picked up small noises. He followed them and soon took notice of the source of those sounds; the kitchen. A few steps away from the door he also saw a faint light coming from the inside. When Zane finally crossed the threshold, very silently, he found someone by the counter.

No, not just someone —it was his  _ dear  _ friend Cole. 

The boy’s back was at Zane, but the white ninja could still recognize Cole’s muscular frame, and a bit of his face thanks to a soft light illuminated him from the front.

Unknowing of his presence, Cole kept doing his thing. Judging by the way his arms moved in short, repetitive motions he must have been handling something on his front. Cole let out a low groan, his hands then reached up and opened a cupboard, fumbling with the several pots and jars. He finally picked one then brought it closer to the candle on the counter, squinting his eyes to read the tag in the poorly-lit surroundings.

“Cole?”

Zane had never heard the earth elemental squeal like he did that right moment. Cole visibly jerked with a gasp, doing his best to not drop the tiny jar as it bounced on his hands. He turned around and the two ninja locked gazes for a moment.

“Z-Zane!”

“What are you doing here?”

Cole stuttered nervously and practically turned into stone the instant Zane flicked the lights on.

Eyes wide open with surprise, Zane stared at his peer. Cole’s pajama shirt was covered with a mix of white powder and dark wet patches, traces of a yellowish mixture also decorated some spots around his hands and face. Although the black ninja tried to block Zane’s vision, the nindroid recognized one of his cooking bowls behind Cole. 

In an attempt to shield whatever other items and tools, Cole knocked something down to the floor. Given his shock, the boy could barely move, so Zane decided to come closer and pick it up. It was a book —a recipe book.  _ Sweets for dummies _ , read the cover. 

“You’re… cooking?” Zane asked with genuine wonder. Cole wasn’t especially known in the house for being a good cook, nor liking to be in the kitchen for anything that wasn’t just  _ eating _ .

Cole stammered again, no recognizable words leaving his mouth as he tried to avoid Zane’s gaze.

“Why? It’s the middle of the night. Are you hungry?” Zane threw more questions at him, which remained unanswered, at least for a bit.

After going through some sort of inner battle, Cole sighed defeated.

“I guess it’s no use trying to lie at this point,” he mumbled to himself.

The master of earth moved to the side, Zane now had a perfect vision of the countertop. Effectively, there was one of his bowls, which contained some type of pale, uneven mixture. Around the place lay a few spoons, a spatula, and other cooking tools that Zane was very familiar with. White particles of what was probably flour, and maybe also sugar, soiled the surface. A carton of milk, egg shells… It was all a dirty mess that almost caused Zane a short-circuit.

The ice ninja looked up into his friend’s face and waited for an explanation, which came slowly as Cole seemed to fight some heavy embarrassment.

“I… I wanted to try and bake you guys something for Christmas…”

“There’s still twelve days left for that date,” Zane commented with precision. Whatever food Cole was trying to make would expire long before that.

“I know, I know. But…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You know cooking is not my forte,” Cole admitted, cheeks red. “I thought it would be better if I practiced ahead of time.”

Zane nodded, but his mind still couldn’t make the whole picture behind Cole’s logic.

“What I don’t understand is… why do it during the night?”

“Well, I’m not good at these things… I didn’t want any of you to have to witness my abominations.” He glared at the bowl behind himself.

“You could have asked me for help.”

Cole went completely silent, his face looked away from Zane, eyes fixed on the kitchen floor, slightly soiled as well.

“... I precisely didn’t want  _ you  _ to know about this,” he responded in sadness.

Zane frowned, confused at his friend’s words. Cole then elaborated.

“You cook for us pretty much every single day, and you do it without complaints, even when I ask you to make extra so I can have another dish... You’re… amazing.” 

Zane didn’t miss the way Cole’s blush seemed to grow more intense, and the way his heart rate spiked up as he said that. 

“I wanted to surprise you with something… Some kind of ‘thank you’ gift, you know… for everything you do for us… and for me.”

Zane got scared for a moment. He felt a strange surge of energy go through his chest for an instant, like he’d been zapped all of a sudden, but Jay was nowhere around. Maybe whatever was malfunctioning in his inside extended beyond just the internal clock... But… for some reason, Zane didn’t feel bothered by that odd sensation —in fact, it made him feel good, somewhat cozy as if he was wrapped with a warm, thick blanket. And the feeling only strengthened as he observed Cole’s flustered expression.

Zane took a couple of steps closer to the other boy.

“That’s… very sweet of you, Cole.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter now. It was a bad idea from the beginning anyway.” He chuckled painfully. “I mean, who am I kidding? I’ve got zero skills for this. I’ve been trying to get a ‘homogeneous dough’ for about an hour now.”

Zane peeped into the bowl. The mixture certainly appeared strange, the different ingredients had not merged correctly and there were lumps everywhere. He ran one last test by dipping his finger into the mass and bringing it up to his mouth. The taste... was not what anyone would expect for something that was supposed to be sweet.

Next to him, Cole looked absolutely mortified either by being caught in his secret plans or by having his lack of experience in the kitchen exposed so clearly.

“I will help you.”

“Uh?” Cole’s head shot up.

“I will help you bake.”

“Zane… It was supposed to be a gift. You shouldn’t be doing-”

“It can still be a gift, even if I know about it.” Zane smiled. “Plus, you know I enjoy cooking.”

“Zane…”

The ice elemental gently grabbed Cole’s hands and rubbed his thumbs on them.

“We can work together and create something delicious for the others on Christmas Day. How does that sound?”

Cole didn’t respond immediately, he seemed lost between staring at Zane’s eyes and their hands clasped together. At some point he gulped audibly and uttered a shy “G-Good. It sounds really good.”

Zane grinned happily, which for some reason made Cole look away once more with a flushed face. 

The white ninja grabbed the bowl Cole had been working on earlier and move it away from their workspace —he would have to find a way to recycle that strange mix... Then he gathered all the tools that lay around and put them in the sink.

"First lesson," he said, turning on the faucet. "You can't cook properly in this mess."

Cole watched him for a moment, somewhat embarrassed of having 'ruined' Zane's territory, yet soon enough his face shifted to a more relaxed expression —one that made Zane's inner circuits feel… wired.

After they cleaned up most of the disorder, it was time to get started again with the cooking.

“Here’s your second lesson.” Zane snatched two aprons from the wall and handed one to Cole. His friend snorted, still embarrassed but finally giving in to the peaceful mood.

“What’s the third one?” He asked sheepishly after putting the protection on.

Zane thought for a moment.

“Well, you’re no dummy so...” He walked towards the table where Cole's recipe book lay, then threw it into the trash can with determination.

The blush on Cole's cheeks came back full force.

♦️♦️♦️

Christmas Day arrived, and along with it, also Cole's time to shine.

From that time two weeks ago, Zane had been giving his friend cooking lessons in the secrecy of the night. The expert white ninja shared all of his knowledge with Cole. They even discussed the menu for Christmas together and practiced all the chosen dishes until the date. Zane would take care of the main course and Cole would make the cookies and log cake, with Zane's supervision in case he needed assistance.

The master of Earth had been a great pupil, while miniature work wasn't his forte, Cole had paid attention to all of Zane's explanations, and thanks to the many failed attempts they went through together, he felt more confident now. Nevertheless, he didn't fully calm down until the others tasted his creations and beamed with wide eyes.

Everyone praised Cole for the awesome sweets he'd baked for them, commenting on how his cooking had gone from zero to actually-really-good in such a short period. And every time Cole said it was thanks to Zane, the nindroid insisted he took credit for his hard work and perseverance. All he'd done was just giving Cole the right tools.

The Christmas party progressed merrily. The ninja spent the evening playing all sorts of games, being dorks as they teased each other through varied conversations, and of course filling their bellies with the delicious food cooked by their two friends.

At some point, Zane retreated to bring some of the empty plates back to the kitchen, knowing that it would be easier to wash them now before any remnants of food solidified and stubbornly glued themselves to the ceramic. He was about done with them when he heard a voice calling him from behind. 

Turning around Zane discovered the black ninja standing by the door; his hands hidden behind his back, and his face wore that flustered expression that Zane had grown accustomed to lately.

"Oh, hello, Cole."

"Hey," the other muttered, walking closer to him.

"Is everything alright in the living room?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah! The guys are fine." 

Zane arched an eyebrow, curious to know why Cole had abandoned the party and come to him. The black ninja seemed to notice his confusion and explained himself in more detail. 

"I just… I kinda wanted to talk to you alone for a second."

"Oh." Zane took off his washing gloves and smiled as mellow as usual. "I'm all ears."

Cole tensed slightly. The boy faltered at the beginning of his speech, something obviously had gotten him all nervous.

"I… I guess I wanted to thank you for putting up with my clumsy hands these past two weeks." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand before returning it to its prior hiding spot. "It's the first time anybody thinks what I've cooked is edible."

"Cole, you're exaggerating. You're not such a bad cook, not even before my lessons."

Cole giggled childishly as his blush intensified.

"Anyway, it meant a lot to me, so I…" His hands moved from behind his back and revealed a small plastic bag tied at the top with a white ribbon

Zane blinked and stared at the sack with surprise. Very gently Cole placed it in his hands and Zane observed fascinated at _ the cookies inside _ . He managed to spot a few snowflake shaped, painted with a soft blue sugar-coat and smaller white decorations. Some others looked like stars —no, not just regular stars but shurikens!

"I baked a few more cookies…  _ for you _ ," Cole mumbled low, tearing his eyes away.

Zane's mouth hung open in disbelief. "When did you do these? I don't remember seeing any when I helped you."

Cole bit his lip with a tiny smirk. "Last night, after we both went to bed… I came back here and did some more cooking myself."

"Now I understand why you've been yawning all day."

They both chuckled as Cole admitted he hadn't slept much to get the cookies ready in time.

Although the nindroid appeared calm on the outside, his inner mechanism accelerated. He couldn't believe what Cole had done nor the extension the boy had gone to just to make Zane feel satisfied for the time he'd invested during these past nights teaching him. 

The master of ice already felt so proud of his teammate, but now there was also another sensation in his chest. It was the same strange power surge he'd experimented two weeks ago, only now it spread through his whole body in a succession of soft beats. 

"I messed up with the frosting. It's a bit cracked at some spots, but I hope it's not too bad," Cole commented embarrassed.

Zane stole another glance at the bag. “May I?” He asked, holding the white ribbon with two fingers. He wanted to make sure he had his friend’s permission before opening the gift.

Cole bobbed his head in a short nod.

Pulling at one of the ends of the tie very gently, Zane maneuvered with caution and extracted a cookie from the bag. He observed it closely for a moment before putting it between his teeth and taking a bite.

For some reason, his companion looked a lot more anxious now than he did when the rest of the crew was eating the food he’d cooked for everyone. As if Zane’s opinion mattered a whole lot more...

The ice master closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the sweetness of the confection. The sugary cover could have used some refinement, but the truth is Zane liked that slightly granular texture, it combined well with the crunchy dough. And then there was that subtle touch of vanilla. The rhythm of his electric heart picked up, he didn’t remember ever mentioning to Cole that was his favorite flavor.

“How is it? Did I screw up?”

His friends' inquiry brought Zane back to reality. The ice master opened his eyes and smiled widely at the fidgety boy in front of him. 

“No, you didn’t. It is delicious.” 

Zane faltered for a moment, confusing sensations were flooding his processors. It was rare for the nindroid to feel lost for words, but given Cole's concerned face, Zane did his best to give an explanation.

“Apologies. It's the first time someone cooks something _specifically_ _for me_. I am surprised —delightfully surprised," he remarked. "Thank you very much for this gift."

It wasn't until Zane's straightforward verdict that Cole's face finally lit up with a childish beam. The white ninja noticed how an invisible weight was lifted off his companion's shoulders.

"I'm… glad I made you happy," Cole mumbled.

Nothing in Zane's coding signaled the nindroid to take a step closer and put his arms around Cole —yet he did exactly that.

At first, the master of Earth stiffened. Cole remained completely still for a long beat, but eventually, he too wrapped his arms around Zane's back, and slowly pulled the robot closer for an even more heartfelt embrace. They spent whoever knew how long like that, which struck Zane odd; he'd always been excellent at calculating the time he invested in any sort of activity. 

When they both pulled apart, Zane 'had the feeling' that Cole would have favored staying in their previous position for a while longer. The noiret reluctantly let his arms slide down Zane's until they weren't touching anymore.

"I… guess we should go back to the party." 

Zane detected an interesting bitter touch at the end of Cole's sentence, but he nodded in agreement. There was no actual reason not to join their friends in the celebration.

However, as Cole was making his way back to the living room, Zane felt that 'spark' again. A foreign stimulus that made him turn around and call out Cole's name.

His friend stopped by the threshold, demeanor calm and curious at the same time, as if Cole was waiting for Zane to say something more from the beginning.

The way his eyes shone, staring hopeful at Zane... it made the nindroid feel 'sick' again somehow, yet everything in his internal mechanism was working perfectly. Zane didn't know what it was that made him feel like this, but he was smart enough to detect that it only happened when he was next to the black ninja.

"I know Christmas is pretty much over now, but…" Zane's lips were moving on their own accord. "Would you still be interested in… some more cooking lessons?"

Zane held his breath as Cole stared blankly at him for a while. Apparently, the ninja of Earth had not seen that coming at all, Zane's offer had left him flabbergasted. When Cole managed to break free from his shock, his features shifted again, adopting the biggest and brightest smile Zane had ever witnessed.

"Y-Yeah! Yeah, I'd love to!" He finally responded eagerly.

Zane's heart stirred once again. He walked closer to Cole, noticing how the 'beats' grew louder inside of his titanium cover. The nindroid was honestly intrigued by these unusual and sudden waves of electricity running through his artificial nerves.

Maybe one day Zane would find a word to describe that curious 'warm' sensation that was filling his chest as he looked into Cole's bright eyes.

Zane gently grabbed Cole's hand. "So… tomorrow at the same hour as usual?"

Cole squeezed his fingers tenderly in return and nodded for a clearer confirmation.

"It's a date."


End file.
